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Technicians and associate professionals · code 3117

Mining and metallurgical technicians

AI can crunch the survey data. Collecting rock samples is still fieldwork.

Five of the eight tasks are mostly out of AI's reach, including cost estimates and research support. Collecting and testing rock and metal samples and helping design mines it barely touches.

What they actually do (and what else they get called)

Mining and metallurgical technicians perform technical tasks to assist in research and experiments related to metallurgy, in improving methods of extracting solid minerals, oil and gas, and in the design, construction, operation, maintenance and repair of mines and mine installations, of systems for transporting and storing oil and natural gas, and for extraction of metals from ores. Tasks include - (a) providing technical assistance to aid in research on and development of processes to determine the properties of metals and new alloys; (b) providing technical assistance in geological and topographical surveys and in the design and layout of oil, natural gas and mineral ore extraction and transportation systems, and processing and refining plants for minerals and metals; (c) preparing detailed estimates of quantities and costs of materials and labour required for mineral, oil and natural gas exploration, extraction, processing and transport projects; (d) monitoring technical, regulatory and safety aspects of the construction, installation, operation, maintenance and repair of mineral ore, oil and natural gas exploration, extraction, transport and storage installations and mineral processing plants; (e) helping plan and design mines, mine shafts, tunnels and underground first-aid facilities; (f) collecting and preparing rock, mineral and metal samples, performing laboratory tests to determine properties, analysing and reporting test results and maintaining testing equipment; (g) using microscopes, electromagnetic irradiation machines, spectrometers, spectrographs, densitometers and tension testing machines; (h) assisting scientists in the use of electrical, sonic, or nuclear measuring instruments in both laboratory and production activities to obtain data indicating potential sources of metallic ore, gas, or petroleum. Examples of the occupations classified here: - Metallurgical technician - Mines inspector - Mining engineering technician Some related occupations classified elsewhere: - Geology technician - 3111 - Miner - 8111 - Mining plant operator - 8111 - Quarrier - 8111

  • geotechnician
  • mine surveying technician
  • metallurgical technician
  • desalination technician
  • mine safety officer

Job titles from the EU's ESCO list. Search for any of them on the jobs page and you'll end up here.

72 / 100

Mostly holds up against AI

AI can take a few chores off your plate, but most of the day is still yours.

Not the odds you keep your job. It's how much of the everyday work still needs a person, out of 100.

← Robot's turf Human's turf →

The ILO's official verdict: Not Exposed

225 of 427 for holding up against AI

Why this score?

The ILO rated each of this job's 8 tasks for how much of it AI could do. They average 28.2 out of 100, so it holds up at 100 − 28.2 = 71.8.

That's the whole sum. No black box, no secret sauce: you can check it against the ILO's study. ILO group “Not Exposed”: None of this job's tasks scored high enough to count.

from the source Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs 2025 index data 0.8-observed-use

Pinch of salt: this number is probably too rosy

It only asks what AI software could do, and this job is 54 out of 100 hands-on. A chatbot can't do that part. A robot might, one day, and nobody measures how close that is.

Man v Bot · compare

Who holds up better?

Mining and metallurgical technicians 72

v

Go on, try your partner's job. Or your sibling's. We won't tell.

Man v Bot

Where the bot helps, and where the human wins

Bot

What AI takes

The routine stuff. You may not miss it.

  • Cost and quantity estimates.
  • Survey and geological data analysis.
  • Lab instrument readings.

Man

What people still do better

Judgement, trust and skilled hands. Hard to download.

  • Collecting and preparing samples.
  • Safety monitoring on site.
  • Supporting mine planning.

Both

What's arriving

New work that only exists because the AI does.

  • Drone and remote sensing surveys.
  • Minerals for batteries and renewables.
  • Mine rehabilitation.

Written by a human, from the ILO's task ratings below. Yes, we see the irony. Read it as one person's take.

Meet your two rivals

They're not the same machine. AI software can only reach the parts of a job done on a screen or in words. A chatbot can't climb a ladder. A robot might, one day, if it doesn't fall off.

The AI

Lives in a screen. Never had to fix a boiler.

Threat level: Medium

36 could do without you

It could take over some of the work, and help with more. It could help with 68 of 100.

The robot

The wildcard. Has hands, still working out stairs.

How much it matters here: Some

54 how hands-on

A fair part of this job is hands-on, so robots would be needed for that part, not just software.

So could a robot do the physical part?

Less fine handwork and fewer cramped spaces than a typical hands-on job. That clears one hurdle for machines. It doesn't mean machines are doing this work yet.

Robots hate fiddly work in awkward spaces. On that measure, this job scores 38 out of 100. The higher it is, the longer the robot waits.

54 How
hands-on
38 How fiddly
and cramped

Kind of hands-on work Hands-on, less fiddly work

The small print

They aren't a robot score, and nothing on this page is. Nobody measures how far robots have got well enough to put a number on it. These are the closest thing we have: how hands-on the job is, and how much fiddly, cramped work it takes, which is what Frey and Osborne found hardest for machines.

From O*NET, averaged across 4 US jobs .

finger skill 40.7 · hand skill 36.6 · cramped spaces 35.4 · averaged · rule: hands-on 50+ · fiddly under 39.4

estimated O*NET 31.0 BLS occupational crosswalk chain ISCO-08 to 2010 SOC (Aug 2012, rev. Jun 2015); 2010 to 2018 SOC (Nov 2017); O*NET-SOC 2019 taxonomy data 0.8-observed-use measures chosen by Frey & Osborne (2017) · the grouping is a sorting, not a measurement

The job, task by task

Every job is really a bundle of tasks. Here's this one unpacked, with how much of each AI could do, out of 100. The score is the average, and averages can hide a lot.

AI's favourite task here scores 40, against an average of 28. The bigger the gap, the more lopsided the job: some of it wide open to AI, some of it barely touched.

  1. 40

    Preparing detailed estimates of quantities and costs of materials and labour required for mineral, oil and natural gas exploration, extraction, processing and transport projects

    Low
  2. 32

    Providing technical assistance to aid in research on and development of processes to determine the properties of metals and new alloys

    Low
  3. 31

    Assisting scientists in the use of electrical, sonic or nuclear measuring instruments in both laboratory and production activities to obtain data indicating potential sources of metallic ore, gas, or petroleum.

    Low
  4. 30

    Providing technical assistance in geological and topographical surveys, and in the design and layout of oil, natural gas and mineral ore extraction and transportation systems, and processing and refining plants for minerals and metals

    Low
  5. 26

    Using microscopes, electromagnetic irradiation machines, spectrometers, spectrographs, densitometers and tension testing machines

    Low
  6. 24

    Monitoring technical, regulatory and safety aspects of the construction, installation, operation, maintenance and repair of mineral ore, oil and natural gas exploration, extraction, transport and storage installations and of mineral processing plants

    Very Low
  7. 24

    Collecting and preparing rock, mineral and metal samples, performing laboratory tests to determine properties, analysing and reporting test results and maintaining testing equipment

    Very Low
  8. 20

    Helping plan and design mines, mine shafts, tunnels and underground first-aid facilities

    Very Low

8 tasks · the High to Very Low labels are the ILO's

from the source Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs 2025 index data 0.8-observed-use

Sidekick or replacement?

A tool that makes you faster is a very different thing from one that does the task while you watch. Jobs and Skills Australia measured the two separately, which is handy.

AI helps you
68
AI does it for you
36

Sidekick wins, by 33 points.

How good a match is this?

2 Australian jobs match this one, and we've simply averaged them. Treat the numbers as a rough guide.

estimated Our Gen AI Transition (Gen AI Capacity Study) September 2025 detailed data release data 0.8-observed-use matched to Australian jobs 3126, 3129

Meanwhile, in real life…

Everything else here is about what AI could do. This is what people actually did. When they asked Claude for help with this kind of work, did they hand the whole task over, or roll their sleeves up and work through it together?

Tiny sample alert This job makes up under 0.01% of all the conversations: a tiny slice, mostly the paperwork rather than the work. People using AI for a job isn't the same as AI being able to do it.

Out of every 100 conversations

45
55

worked through it together handed it over

The small print

Anthropic publishes this about its own product, and it doesn't feed into any score here. These are people who use Claude, not workers in general, so little use here doesn't mean AI can't reach the job.

The data is sorted by US job, and this one matches 2 of them. We've combined them, counting each by how often it comes up in the conversations, so the busiest one counts most.

These two add up to 100. The bars elsewhere on the page don't, because each is scored on its own, so we don't put them side by side.

observed use Anthropic Economic Index release 2026-06-26, period beginning 2026-05-01 data 0.8-observed-use 2026-05-01 · Anthropic, about its own product

So, should mining technicians be worried?

Short answer: not much. Some of the chores will change, and good riddance.

Parts of it are changing. Estimates, research support, instruments, surveys and lab analysis are the most exposed tasks, all Low; safety monitoring, sampling and mine planning rate Very Low. Analysis and modelling tools speed up the desk work; field and lab work stay practical.

Worth remembering: we score tasks, not jobs. When AI takes on a task, the job usually reshuffles around it rather than vanishing.

Where this job could lead

None of the new jobs we've written up start from here yet. Could be you're the first. See the jobs AI is creating →

How are the neighbours doing?

There are 82 jobs in the “Technicians and associate professionals” family, averaging 65. This one is above the family average.

Pit this against any other job →